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UNSW co-hosts International Nanomedicine Conference

Advances in nanotechnology and nano-fabrication are fundamentally changing the future of medicine, enabling more effective diagnostics and targeted drugs, and new bioactive materials that can help repair our bodies.

The Australian Centre for NanoMedicine at the University of New South Wales (UNSW Australia) is at the forefront of these disciplines and will co-host the sixth International Nanomedicine Conference from 6-8 July in Sydney with the ARC Centre of Excellence in Convergent Bio-Nano Science and Technology.

The conference will bring together world-leaders in the field to highlight important research and developments, clinical challenges, and to discuss social and ethical implications of their work.

One nanometre is equivalent to one-billionth of a metre and is roughly 60,000 times thinner than a human hair. By exploiting the novel properties of materials at this scale, researchers can build devices and systems that improve disease detection and develop more effective therapies.

Scientists, engineers and clinicians are delivering 3D printed bionics and novel electroactive materials that can communicate with muscles and nerves; they’re reprogramming cells and repairing tissues; and they’re synthesising functional nanoparticles to swim through blood and deliver drugs to specific sites in the body.

Directors of the Australian Centre for NanoMedicine at UNSW: Scientia Professor Justin Gooding (left) and Professor Maria Kavallaris (right). Tom Davis (centre) is the director of the ARC Centre of Excellence in Convergent Bio-Nano Science and Technology, which is co-hosting the conference. Credit: Prudence Upton

The Australian Centre for NanoMedicine at UNSW, which crosses medicine, science and engineering, is investigating strategies to better diagnose and treat illnesses such as cancer, diabetes, multiple sclerosis, Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s disease.

The keynote speakers at this year’s conference include:

Professor Paula Hammond – the David H. Koch Chair of Engineering and a founder of the Institute for Soldier Nanotechnology at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Professor Leaf Huang – Director of the Drug Targeting Lab at the University of North Carolina.

Professor Tariq Rana – Professor of biochemistry at the University of California, San Diego.

A/Prof. Stephen Rose – Head of the Imaging Research Laboratory at the University of Queensland.

Professor Gordon Wallace – Director of the Intelligent Polymer Research Institute and the Australian National Fabrication Facility (materials node) at the University of Wollongong.